Ask a Mason

Thank you, but are they expensive or do they depend?
Also, will it decerase my chance of getting in Lodge if I for e.g have masonic flag in my room or shirt with square and compass while I'm not a
member?

(Also I apologize for these questions I'm curious)

That is a good question. If I were on the investigating committee and I saw Masonic emblems in your home or on your person I would probably be a
little suspicious. It certainly will not help your chances.

Now, there are some exceptions. If you have a family ring, or heirlooms, then of course those are acceptable. If you are wearing a shirt that speaks
highly of Masonry, but doesn't identify you as a Mason, then it probably wouldn't hurt any.

If I were you, I would just wait until you actually get through the degree work.

My query: Based on the experiences of True Freemasons... What Rite in particular is most suitable for a 3rd Degree Master Mason of the Blue
Lodge???

Provided we only have two options... A.A.S.R & Y.R.

Well, there are a lot more than just two. But for purposes of your question, it really
depends on what's popular in your lodge or your city as to which you might want to join. Many of the guys in my lodge were very active in the
Scottish Rite so I chose to join that. Nothing precluding me from joining both though, as I have a number of friends who are members of both bodies.

Also... are they refered to as "Grades" or "Degrees" or "Levels" ?????

First time I heard of Freemasonry was when I was in my late teens and early twenties.
It was not a conspiracy thing, but rather an idea imposed on me of people with power.
I was then introduced to more poeple who already had heard of it.
In turn they began to inquire of me about the matter, but foolishly I gave them this reply:
"Obscurity of Light through Height."

Anyhoo...
I let go of the subject but kept on discovering everything leads me back to it.
Through the years (32 now) I succumb to moments that shed light on certain degrees.
Now... I know better.
However, I chose to believe this about my affairs with the craft...

0 Degree is Chamber of Reflection which is where I am tried...
1-33 Degrees is lessons of "Instruction." How to associate. Thus I call it hence "Associate Degrees"
next is 34-66 which, to me, lessons of "Examination." I call them "Bachelor Degrees"
They teach me the trials of my affairs with a woman. Which according to me is the greatest thing a Freemason has to give. A Woman. I may not be worthy
now... but with 34-66 I can see myself being examined and if I know how to operate then I can be worthy of her affection.
Then there is 66-99. Something I imagine should be feared. It is a rite known only by me as "Corrections"
This is called "Master Degrees" I can't speak much because I refuse to go there. But it is in my mind something too great to endeavor.

According to "Waite" in his "A New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry" these degrees exist.
He names each one. But it is to me... only logical to ignore the many and focus on the 34th all through to the 66th. I plan to learn them. Though it
is only by the title, nothing more...
I can be a Bachelor and serve a woman.
I actually know a woman who needs me. While promise to never use what I know and/or learn in a evil design or fashion, I can't believe that others
will not as well.

I've gathered so much from the Titles to the 33 degrees...
At some point I began to call them rocks! Example: "4th Degree- Secret Master" I call it a Rock!
33 rocks and a rough Ashlar (Holy Bible)

Jesus told Mary to behold her son, and told the apostle to behold his mother.
Also... there is Mary Magdaline.
Those are the mysteries than bind me to Christendom.
I believe that is what/who Jesus died for...

So... I challenge myself to be "34th Degree - Knight of the Temple"
a start to my examination...

The degrees up to 99 are Ancient and Accepted Primitive Rite of Memphis Misraim. It is a Rite that is still worked but has been supplanted by the 33
degrees of the Scottish Rite by most Orders. Most of the AAPRMM degrees are communicated or conferred and aren't iniatory at all.

If you were to make an analogy between Masonic degrees and university degrees, the symbolic degrees would be the bachelor, masters and doctorate
degree, but the degrees of SR, YR and AAPRMM would be more like an area of emphasis and the 33 or 95/99 would be like honors like magna cum laude.
This is just one Masons opinion (mine) though.

The three merits indeed is and does come from the merits of university degrees.
That is how I call them.
I learned as I went along in experiences to notice that they are in fact what I call them.
But then again I am not a Freemason. I am bound in my life to experience the woman I love, and that in turn leads me to believe that I can love her
back and more if I am a "Bachelor" granting revelation to her from my own part as I go along in the examinations...

While most of it would seem as mere bill payer and chore doer... I have come to learn that there is more to it.
So... since I can't know it for sure... I lend myself to my idea and hope that it brings me the peace of mind I wouldget if I serve her
accordingly.

To answer your question, I'd say to each his own. I am obviously going to be a big proponent of the York Rite, particularly the Royal Arch and
Cryptic degrees. As a Christian I am also a big fan of the Chivalric Orders (culminating in the Templar Order). If you can tell from the previous
sentences, the York Rite uses degrees and orders. The Scottish Rite refers to its ceremonies as degrees.

There are many more rites, such as the Swedish Rite, but are not as well known here in America.

Looks like I stumped a mason. That, or maybe they don't have the answer, in which case, I would question the calibur of those so-called masons on
this site.

Let's be honest, it was an easy question. But instead of an answer, I read as these same three guys work to break down others' religious beliefs,
but ask them an honest question, and they're no where to be found.

Masons indeed. A true mason teaches and respects the craft. They don't run from questions while belittling the beliefs of others.

This statement comes from the back and forth you see in the thread "The Secret of Freemasonry Seen in the Reflection of a Mirror - What do you
see?".

They have the time to insult Kyobosha, but yet to have the courage to respond to something as simple as the mystery of how they built the pyramids.

Is this because it's so sacred a secret that they can't respond. I say no. No, the truth, as always, is so much simplier. They simply lack the
knowledge. Because they don't know.

But the masons did build the pyramids. Only they had the knowledge of how. I know most would like to believe it was aliens...but in reality, it was
simply skilled craftsmen. That is why they still promote the eye of horus to this day. There are atleast a hundred pics on this site alone that
testify to the mason relation to the all seeing eye.

So, what I really want to know, if why does the supposive "masons" (I don't think you guys really are. I think you pretend to be. A little role
play group if you will) have the time to insult religous belief, but in a thread started by you, literally named "ask a mason", where the OP
suggests all question are fair game, you refuse a response, but still have the time to degrade any other thread with your anti-christian values?

So, Freemasonry has around 6 million or so members, and all of them supposedly have this knowledge
of how the Pyramids were built? Yet, exactly how the pyramids were built is still a debatable mystery even among the most researched and educated
folks in the field? Many of those notable folks that are experts on the pyramids are also Masons, yet they are still only hypothesizing about how the
pyramids might have been built.

Hate to rain on your parade, but we only cover the building of King Soloman's Temple in our parables, and even that is a very high-level synopsis of
the building, and the majority of the lesson comes directly out of the Holy Bible, which means anyone can go and read how it was built, there is no
requirement to be a Freemason.

Sorry to disappoint, but the question just happens to be a stupid one. Nobody is "refusing" to answer, it just isn't a Masonic question.

BTW: I too believe it was done at the direction of skilled craftsman, without any need for alien intervention, and I also believe it was probably
done by a lot of slave labor, and the reason for the secret guild of Freemasons protecting their craft was to ensure they never became slaves.
Therefore, it is doubtful that Freemasons had anything to do with building the pyramids, unless maybe a rogue Master Mason was employed to
oversee the slaves, and that would have violated his other obligations and got him shunned from the fraternity and probably put his life in
peril.

Other member: I suggest you use some of the plethora of time you have to spend on ATS to do some legitimate research for your own good. You know the
antichrist is going to function as a trinity too right?

Augustus Masonicus: Uh, no. I have no clue, unlike you, as to anything this fictional anti-Christ has planned. Do you know what the Easter Bunny has
in store as well?

This is religious tolerance and education? Nope, this is simply being hateful. Admition isn't required for truth. True or false?

Augustus Masonicus: 'Souls to be reaped'? More Biblical mumbo-jumbo

So when Christ said the harvest was great, but the workers were few, he was just full of it? Yeah, alot of religious tolerance there....

Augustus Masonicus: Is that your way of saying that you could not find an eye in a triangle predating the Renaissance?

You have to be kidding everyone with that nonsense. That symbol is as old as egypt. Just because it doesn't perfectly fit the sign on the back of the
dollar doesn't deny the fact this symbol, the all seeing eye is as old as the egyptians themselves.

Augustus Masonicus: Jesus' genealogy? No one can even prove if he actually existed and now you have a family tree for him? How nice. You let your
fanatical religious beliefs dictate what is real and what is not and people are supposed to take you seriously?

As I have proudly stated on other threads, the fact of the life of Jesus is undeniable. His divinity may be questioned (though I wouldn't recommend
it, but, in this great nation of ours, as well as the world forum known as the internet, you are entitled to religious belief and freedom) the fact he
existed is easily googable. There are more documents in rome alone of the life and times of Chirst than there are of Ceaser. So to suggest that you
can't prove he existed is like suggesting you can't prove there was a ceaser that unified Rome, before his senate assassianated him ofcourse.

Other member: Satan likes to mimic God.

Augustus Masonicus: Who likes to mimic God? The Tooth Fairy?

Again, lovely religious tolerance. This comes off more demeaing more demeaning than anything...

And it goes on and on. For hours, literally, the assaults. It saddens me to see anyone caught in this web of deception. I could c/p the nonsense
spilled out in the name of education all night, but I haven't the energy or time. What I did have was an honest question, one which was ignored, and
then assualted by a group of boys that read one too many masons sites and thought they could fool a forum into believing they represent such.

A true mason seeks true. A true mason educates, not demeans. A true mason believes that a belief in a higher power is suffecent. This doesn't mean
they take every pot shot they can at someone elses beliefs.

Heck, a true mason understands the word "if".

As for getreadyalready, I never assumed all masons knew the secret of the pyramids. Only those that arn't simply pawns that pay dues, though, would.
You see, anyone is willing to let you be part of the gang, so long as they profit. But only real members of any rank would know an answer like that.
That's why it's a brillant (as well as above you head, obviously) question. It's a litmus test, you see? Please keep up.
As for the fact you only date back the brotherhood to the temple of solomon shows just how much you still have not been privy to.

Finally, there are no stupid questions, especially in a thread that suggests all questions are fair game. Only someone wishing to demean someone, as I
have often seen from those that claim mason status on this site, call someone ignorate for asking an honest question.

A true mason educates. He teaches his craft.

A pretender insults those that ask, in fear of being reveiled as fake.

First off, you should realize that emsed isn't always on and when he is it can be a great length between posts.

Second, to answer your question, our alien overlords assisted us with their technology.

We're insulted when we admonish someone of their misconceptions of Freemasonry, but then are called liars or pawns.

Anti-Christian values? Many Masons are Christian and nowhere in Freemasonry do we denigrate Christianity.

Okay, first, you three boys had all the time in the world to degrade that one cat of which I already stated and quoted some of the nonsense spoken, so
don't tell me "you wern't on", no one is buying it.

Secondly, comparing bibilical figures to myth like the easter bunny isn't denigrating to christian belief? I literally quoted the man slamming the
guy for his stated beliefs. Again, not for sale.

To answer your question, I'd say to each his own. I am obviously going to be a big proponent of the York Rite, particularly the Royal Arch and
Cryptic degrees. As a Christian I am also a big fan of the Chivalric Orders (culminating in the Templar Order).

In my experiences I have come to learn that the 13th Degree -Knight of the Royal Arch means "Stand My Ground" at all times against any and all foes.
If not I'd lose her.
That is to me the full measure of the degree. I call it a rock. I call 29 degrees rocks.
Like I said before... they hurt, but without them I'd be stone to death...

Irony eh????

While I will think to give thanks to Freemason... I often find that the nature of their purity is designed to see the result of such undertakings. By
that I mean they request that seldom in my life.
It is almost as if thanks enough is doing the deed rather than speaking it back.

S'y I love'em all...

I guess you might say it is Chivalric and Christian like. After all it is "For Christ's Sake"...

Also... I have come to fear the York Rite...
Therein are mysteries I hope I never have to learn. Why?
Well... I see it like this. After Master Mason there is choose...
York Rite is the Rite of the True Warrior (or Christian Warrior)... Very scary because I am deformed and weak and borderline Quasimodo... Men are
Mightier than me.
Scott's Rite- Continuation of the Craft... To better serve as an associate who is instructed to serve.
However, be mindful that as I learn... I usually find that the lesson I learn is found in the AASR...

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